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Called a ""masterpiece,"" this 1919 volume by Cora Moore introduces simplified French cooking to Americans. By concentrating on sauces, she allows the average American cook to add a French flair to their ordinary meals.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This book is in the public domain since it was copyrighted 1919 and is available for free download from Project Gutenberg and also Amazon Twenty-four Little French Dinners and How to Cook and Serve Them. Someone has added a linked table of contents, which is nice, but it is a short book so probably not that helpful. Also there have been color photos added, however the photos appear to me to be unrelated to the recipes. My first thought was that someone had possibly prepared the recipes and added photos but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I'm not sure when this book was written but it seems written before 1950. The author Cora Moore was of the opinion that "the trouble with American cookery is its monotony." Surely this is not the case today with many American cooks considering themselves gourmet cooks. I think if this was written today it would have too many generalizations. Also once Julia Child came along there were more precise instructions for this type of cooking. In this book you are really on your own in some cases. Many of the recipes call for a lump of butter or equal quantities of finely minced carrots and turnips or some firm peaches or a small quantity of wine. This type of instruction may work well if you cook like a chef. For most home cooks it will be difficult to produce the type of meals that the author so glowingly discusses. I'd recommend this book to those who love food writing and just want to enjoy reading a cookbook. Cooking from this book is not altogether impossible just difficult. I think if you are seriously considering cooking French foods you may want to go for a Julia Child cookbook.

I don't know how these 'little' dinners compared to old time meals, they seem very substantial by today's meals. But it is interesting to see how meals were served say generations ago. The French wording is very useful if one plans to dine at a French restaurant but doesn't speak French. Homard is lobster, potage is soup, gigot is mutton, etc. I'll pick and choose among the suggested menus, and there are some dishes that look appetizing to me, others, not so much. But I think this is a useful book for a new cook who has some experience, but a new cook starting out may be overwhelmed. But, it's free, why not try something different, and maybe end up impressing a new beau?

i had to have my boyfriend translate a lot of this. the titles of the dishes are mostly french but the recipe english. i wish it was all english so i would know what i was doing but thankfully my bf is fluent and helped me figure it out.